WizardBlack

Yep, your welds will rust and nothing else. On a side note, stainless insulates better for another benefit. Or so I have been told. Part of it is probably the standard thickness stainless exhausts get (being performance minded) versus 'exhaust shop' mild steel which is thin as they can get away with. To each their own, I say.

Jon, would you be able to update all the images, or just repost the finalized stuff, etc. for this sticky? Also, another (probably stupid) question; If you go through the trouble to make a new T/C rod mounting point and fab your own T/C rods, why not simply fab another point like the subframe mount for the lower control arm and make it a standard control arm with two mounting points like the rear lower control arm? This avoids the whole caster issue cause by the arc the T/C rod sweeps since both chassis side pivoting points would have precisely the same pivot axis.

OK, long story short; bought the car, brakes need pumped several times to get decent pressure. I tear the car apart and install master bushing kit, struts, springs, new pads and rotors in the front and stainless braided brake lines. I also replace one or two small hard lines that had rounded off heads by previous owner. We bleed the brakes (left rear, right rear, right front, left front). It feels a tad better, but still takes a small amount of pump to get the brakes HARD like stainless lines should be. This is while the car is up on stands still. I chalk it up to a 30 year old car. I test drive it and the brakes go to the FLOOR. I need to pump them 5 full strokes to get back to where they were before with a few. I was in the cockpit at the pedal and my buddy did the bleeding. He's done 'em before so I thought perhaps something else is at issue. Could it be the checkvalve? Need to bleed the master cylinder? MC just plain bad? Also, sanity check: The bleeder screw is oriented at the TOP of the caliper when it is installed, yes? NOT the bottom? TIA, Mark

Save yourself the trouble and expand your capacity by using forged pistons and installing ARP rod bolts while you are in there.

It's called aluminized steel; a.k.a. 'we tried a little to stop it from rusting'. Do yourself a favor and get 304 stainless.

They are not $20 in materials. Read carefully. That is 3" STAINLESS made with mandrel bent pieces. It isn't mild steel with crush bent piping. Go to burnsstainless.com and buy the 304 S.S. pieces and tack it together yourself and any fab shop can seam weld it for you. Alternatively, take the mandrels to an exhaust shop and it'll be much cheaper that way. The bends alone are a good half of the cost, though.

Also, can anyone add the information about which heads have solid lifters and which are hydro?

You can put the exhaust manifold for turbo (which is square port) on a round port head. I have an N47 and plan to boost it as well. On a side note about EGT's, I have routinely tuned some cars (that are factory turbo'd) that see beyond 900 degrees C (1650 F) on long highway pulls, but I also try to keep short pulls (going up through first 3 or 4 gears) to stay below 860 C (1580 F).

Sounds to be that a lot of the weight difference that accounts for the later S30's versus the earlier is in bolted on parts more than the actual chassis itself. Heck, I wonder what radiator, trans, fuel tank, control arm, suspension and steering rack differences are alone?

Forged internals won't save a '5.0' block anyways. The block itself is too thin and splits right down the center. In all honesty, most windsor motors are expensive to get beyond the 500 whp range. Revs and power combined together is what kills them. Much beyond 6krpm is asking to kill it. Stay below that and you actually aren't going to have near the problems. Otherwise you need a Ford Motorsport or equivalent block ranging from 1 to 2k just for a bare block. The early 351W blocks can withstand a little more, however. I think a Nissan V8 is probably a better choice to get beyond that number without losing your sanity or making the block a regularly replaced item. Hope things are going well and we wanna see pics! Mark

I just did mine and got it from Ultrarev. They were pretty quick and they have good pricing. Do some searches on a few things you may need to do to the rear pieces.

I had, but it's kinda varying depending on who you listen to, I suppose. One thing I observed on another thread about F/R weight distribution is that the SR20 sits farther back and therefore some of weight MAY actually shift it rearward and thus a tad bit of front ride height increase. I am sure this depends a lot on what you do with an intercooler and piping etc. Some of the stuff that sits way forward. I bet a lot of ppl are looking at the right height as SOON as they drop the motor and trans in and before they put all the ancillary items on, too.

LOL, so it is.... I guess someone did a search and found something they wanted to comment on. heh.

Hmm, may I chime in here? I own a tier 1 auto paint company. That means my company manufactures and (among other things) paints parts that go out the door as OEM auto parts. I will say that they did a horrible job with the paint. Methinks they almost used a roller. LOL. I feel for ya, but that is just terrible. I also have operated (in the past when I had time) a speed shop and dealt with 'body kits'. First of all, every body shop must learn the hard way, but I would only do installation of body kits on a time and materials basis. The shop has NO IDEA what the body kit is going to be like until they try to install it and make it fit right. The absolute best body shop in the world can't make a shitty body kit look right (except for 'money no object' installations). If the bumpers are too narrow or too wide, they can't fix that very easily. It's an extremely labor intensive thing to correct. Ultimately, you should spend more on a body kit and you will have less cost in the installation. On a side note, bondo can be used (with support) to fill lines in, but if you can take ahold of the part and jiggle it with a firm jerk AT ALL, then the bondo will eventually break. Bondo isn't designed to be a structural component. The body shop should know how to use various 3M two component systems (similar to a glue, but they aren't). This is the proper "band aid" for a seriously deformed kit (which is what you have) if you want to fill lines in, etc. By looking at the pics (aerial ones of the rear bumper), you can clearly see that the kit came with too much material removed from the radius of the corners. My advice? Ebay it and find a different brand. Also, take your car to a reputable body shop and be very clear about what you want and what you expect. Not that it describes you, but I've seen ppl come in wanting a $500 all over paint job and expect it to look like it's OEM (which runs more around 10X that starting out). They just don't understand the time and cost involved with something as 'measly' as painting a vehicle. It ain't gonna happen, though. That won't cover one man for one day at shop rates. An all over paint job is easily a 40 hour job for an extremely simple car. Many are more like 80 man hours if you want it done right. Tell them what parts are to be taken off the car. It looks like they only removed the bare essentials (turn indicators, etc.). The bumpers weren't removed, etc. The headlight covers can be fixed by (carefully!) heating them with an industrial heat gun once they are installed to take the stress out of them and then adjusted again for better fitment. As far as the jagged edges of the kit, that's a tough one. Smoothing it out by taking more material away is an option but leaves a bigger gap. Smoothing it out by adding bondo is a temporary fix that will break easily. Bondo is little stronger than dried clay, basically. There is only so much even a good body shop can do with a body kit without spending astronomical time on it. Hope that helps. Good luck.

Sounds like a rewire. Much cheaper and very easy to do. It's not like relays are a complicated thing...

Good luck. Let us know what you find out.

I think he is simply referring to the fact that later 5 speeds had a gear or two that were closer than the early 5 speeds. Not exactly a Close Ratio trans per se, but closer than the earlier 5 speed. Mine has the same thing. It is indeed fairly close, but certainly not a race trans or anything.

This is the tech forum for Nissan L Series motors. Try the classifieds down towards the bottom of the thread sections.

Really? I thought even the turbo powerplant dropped at least that...

According to the 'piktures' on Victoria British, the S130 ends are shaped more like a 'Y' whereas the S30 are more like an 'F' for the two bolts to the LCA. Granted, my information was derived from Arizona Z Car shop and every time I talk to them they are arrogant snots if I am not spending several thousand minimum with them so who knows how much they bothered to give me the right info. Heck you can tell from their "FAQ" which is nothing more than an exercise in ridiculing customers who are on the cheap or not knowledgeable.

If you wanna be sure, you could probably check blackdragonauto.com's online catalog to see if they show a different part number for them.

LOL, so true. Even worse to be in a coupe and get pounded by a wagon. I am glad they brought it back.

I have been told by several vendors that precisely zero suspension parts interchange between the S30 and S130.

Thanks Jon! That is some series beef you put into it. Hmm, I guess I am gonna have to do this soon; one of my frame rails is cracked at the swaybar mount, too. Mark

No, I mean the rear mount for the control arms. It is basically a vertical piece of sheet metal with the top end bent into a 90 degree angle to bolt to the chassis. The bottom end is also bent 90 degrees and becomes half of the clamshell that holds the rear inner bushing for each control arm. Regarding the swaybars. I already had ES endlinks on the car when I bought it. The previous user had replaced the bolts with similar ones that were about 1" longer. That's the ONLY way I could see to do it. As far as swaybar bushings; I dunno on that one. The car has Suspension Techniques swaybars and bushings on it. Methinks we should append some info to a sticky regarding what people are in for if they want to buy a master kit and install it.